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Wednesday, June 27, 2012

The Devout, Honorable, and Chief Women of the Jews and Greeks

Sarah from "Shelves in My Mind" sent me an email a few weeks ago with her thoughts about the Great and Honorable Women she had come across in her reading of Acts. I thought she had some great ideas and asked if she would write it up for a guest post. So today I am excited to share her thoughts!

Acts 13:50

But the Jews stirred up the devout
and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised
persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their
coasts.

Acts
17:4, 12

And some of them believed, and
consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great
multitude, and of the chief women not a few.

Therefore many of them
believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not
a few.

Francois-Joseph NavezWomen Spinning in Fondi1845

When
I recently read these verses, it immediately struck me that the
devout and chief women in both communities – Jewish and Greek –
were looked up to by others for their honourable characters.

This
is an interesting contrast: the Jewish women, who were “devout and
honourable”, were called upon by their neighbours and friends to
expel an Apostle of God from “their coasts”. The influence of
these women was considerable – they were able to turn the entire
surrounding area against the Apostles.

Likewise,
it was the “devout”, “chief” and “honourable women” of
the Greeks that welcomed these same Apostles into their lives with
open arms. The influence of these women was also considerable –
“many of them believed”, both men and women.

When
Paul and Barnabas arrived in Antioch, they preached the gospel in the
synagogue and were well received at first. Both Jews and “religious
proselytes” (Gentile converts to Judaism) were touched by their
words and at the end of the day they didn't even want them to stop
preaching. By the next morning, word had spread among the people and
nearly the entire city gathered to hear the words of Paul and
Barnabas.

This
sudden popularity racked the Jewish leaders with envy and they became
determined to keep hold of their status; they began attacking Paul
and Barnabas, first by speaking out against them, then by
contradicting them, and finally by blasphemy, or preaching false
doctrine and denying the witness of the Holy Ghost.

Their
efforts failed, and not only did many people believe in the Gospel of
Jesus Christ, but the words of Paul and Barnabas were spread
throughout the region.

It was only when the
“devout and honourable women” were called upon,
alongside the chief men of the city, did the Jews succeed in
persecuting the Apostles enough to remove them from their city and
the entire surrounding area.

On
a later journey, Paul and another companion, Silas, were preaching in
a synagogue in Thessalonica, the capital of Macedonia. They were
there for several weeks, and a great multitude of the Greeks believed
their words.

Once
more, the Jewish leaders were stirred up in envy. They managed to get
a group of extremely wicked men together and “set all the city on
an uproar.” It seemed that the situation was very serious, and the
disciples were forced to smuggle the Apostles out of the city by
night, to nearby Berea. Here the people were “more noble” and
searched the scriptures themselves in order to find the truth in
Paul's words. Again, the “honourable women” believed, and many
people were converted.

There
is one key difference in these two experiences. In both accounts the Apostles
preached in the city synagogues, as was customary, and many people
believed. The Jewish leaders were stirred up in envy of the large
crowds gathering to hear Paul's words, and did everything in their
power to get them out of the synagogues and surrounding lands.

Yet it
was only when the “devout and honourable women” were called upon
to influence the people, that the Jewish leaders were successful in
expelling the Apostles from Antioch and the lands around: “their
coasts.”

Yet when
Paul and Silas were forced to flee Thessalonica, they had the support
of the people in the nearby town of Berea and managed to continue
preaching the gospel to many more people. The women in these towns
believed, and the missionary work was able to progress with much
success.

I
believe it is no accident that Paul's missionary work was vastly more
successful when the women believed in and supported his efforts.
George Albert Smith, 8th
President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,
encouraged the Relief Society sisters to “make [their] influence
felt.” He asked for women to “be as anchors in the community in
which you live that others may be drawn to you and feel secure.... It
is our duty to set the example.”

Elder
M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said, “We
believe that the Church simply will not accomplish what it must
without your faith and faithfulness, your innate tendency to put the
well-being of others ahead of your own, and your spiritual strength
and tenacity.”

The
example of the people of Berea stands out to me as the main reason
why the Greek women were so receptive to the Spirit; not only did
they listen to the words of Paul, but they studied the scriptures and
received a testimony of their own.

Our
modern times aren't all that different to Paul's. Righteousness is
shouted down at every opportunity; without the foundation of a strong
testimony, rooted in the gospel of Jesus Christ, our influence won't
necessarily be used for good.

I
love Elder Ballard's phrase, “spiritual strength and tenacity.” A
persistent determination in the face of social pressure is required
in order to stand for truth and righteousness. By following the
example of these early Christian converts, we too can become devout
and honourable.

=====================================================

Sarah is an American, married to an Englishman, with three daughters and one son. Her interests include quilting, gardening, green smoothies, sci-fi, rollerskating and window shopping. She can be found at her blog, Shelves in my Mind, where she rambles about many, many things.

5 comments:

I think what I have learned the most from these women is just how powerful women's influence is. What we allow and support happens-- for good or bad. That is really a lot of power and I think often times women don't realize it. I just think about pornography-- really if women didn't tolerate it and even embrace it as "normal" and "inevitable" -- would it really be as big as it now is? What if we as women really took a stance agaist it? I think we could change things. War? I think we could change that too. We just underestimate ourselves so much or are just lured away into a false sense of security. We have may not always have the power but we have influence!

(Sorry - caught a typo!) This post and Heather's comment both made me think of Leymah Gbowee's memoir "Mighty Be Our Powers" about how the Liberian civil war was only finally stopped when the women stood up and said "Enough!" Thanks for this insightful post!

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